Have I mentioned lately how much I love Paul Krugman?

The way to understand all of this is to realize that it’s part of a broader syndrome, in which wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is.

Last year, you may recall, a number of financial-industry barons went wild over very mild criticism from President Obama. They denounced Mr. Obama as being almost a socialist for endorsing the so-called Volcker rule, which would simply prohibit banks backed by federal guarantees from engaging in risky speculation. And as for their reaction to proposals to close a loophole that lets some of them pay remarkably low taxes — well, Stephen Schwarzman, chairman of the Blackstone Group, compared it to Hitler’s invasion of Poland.

It’s a phenomenon we see all over the place, wherein any entity that had previously held all the chits finds their position, however, illegitimate it may have been, threatened. That’s where the outcry against letting blacks or women vote came from, and why Christians tend to screech about persecution at the notion of simply letting others act according to their own beliefs.

Let’s get one thing straight: the wealthiest don’t give two shits about “the economy” beyond its ability to bring them more wealth. Any deregulation they’re fighting for isn’t to keep “the economy” healthy, it’s to help fatten their bank accounts further. The populist arguments they make are crafted for the same purpose. Job creators? If they could keep earning the same amounts but not have to pay employees, they would. There’s a reason outsourcing exists, and it’s not “minimum wage”.

It almost doesn’t matter how big the OWS protests get, FOX and the right will keep spinning it as radical communists against good hard-working Americans, all to serve the people who want nothing more than to hammer on the system for their own benefit at the expense of everyone else’s.